(LifeSiteNews) — Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre has come under immense fire after he referred to the political views of pro-Freedom Convoy Member of European Parliament Christine Anderson as “vile.”
Anderson, of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, has been in Canada for the last week meeting with various people related to the Freedom Convoy, including one of the movement’s leaders, Tamara Lich.
Anderson is known for being very outspoken against COVID mandates, government overreach, and liberal immigration policies, and came to prominence in Canada last year after blasting Trudeau over his treatment of the anti-mandate Freedom Convoy protesters.
Last Tuesday, photos emerged online of Anderson meeting with CPC MPs Leslyn Lewis, Colin Carrie, and Dean Allison. After the photographs made the rounds online, Poilievre issued a statement on Friday, saying “Anderson’s views are vile and have no place in our politics.”
“The MPs were not aware of this visiting member of the European Parliament’s opinions, and they regret meeting with her,” continued Poilievre.
“Frankly, it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place. She and her racist, hateful views are not welcome here,” he added.
On Friday, Anderson defended herself, telling True North that at no point did she express “hateful and racist views as he [Poilievre] puts it.”
“No one gets to define me… not even Mr. Poilievre. You do not get to define me. I know what I stand for. I know what I fight for,” she said, adding “And I know that I will never cater to any democratic leader or any elected government that does not act in the best interest of the people.”
Members of the AfD party advocate for less immigration and have been critical of the impact Islam has had on Europe, notably through mass migration.
Anderson herself has also been critical of extreme forms of Islam prevalent in countries like Afghanistan, accusing them of mistreating women.
Later on Friday, CPC MPs released a statement via Carrie’s Twitter account in which they said they do not “endorse” Anderson’s views.
“It is, of course, not uncommon for Members of Parliament to meet with visiting elected officials from other countries,” said the group.
“We were not aware of her views or associations of her and her political party. We do not share or endorse her views and strongly condemn any views that are racist or hateful.”
Poilievre blasted for calling Anderson ‘vile’
After Poilievre’s comments regarding Anderson went viral, many anti-lockdown and pro-freedom Canadians, who for the past three years have been fighting COVID-related government overreach, took to Twitter to call him out.
“Thank you, Christine, for visiting Canada and for reminding us that @PierrePoilievre and @CPC_HQ are deeply compromised by the same people who own @JustinTrudeau, It’s absolutely not racist to criticize harmful mass immigration policies, @AndersonAfDMdEP” tweeted anti-lockdown and “canceled” Ontario doctor Patrick Phillips.
Thank you, Christine, for visiting Canada and for reminding us that @PierrePoilievre and @CPC_HQ
are deeply compromised by the same people who own @JustinTrudeauIt’s absolutely not racist to criticize harmful mass immigration policies
@AndersonAfDMdEP https://t.co/UMR2YNrqho
— Patrick Phillips MD (@DrP_MD) February 24, 2023
Rebel News founder Ezra Levant noted in a commentary last Friday that Poilievre humiliated his MPs by his statement against Anderson.
“Not only did he humiliate his own MPs — including the popular Ms. Lewis — but he did Trudeau an enormous favor, by interrupting the national media’s recent interest in Trudeau’s affiliations with the Communist Party of China and that country’s interference in Canadian elections,” noted Levant.
“Like a hockey player scoring a goal on his own net, Poilievre ‘proved’ that his party was indeed racist by accepting the accusation, and legitimizing what would have otherwise been a fringe story shopped around by a couple of cranks.”
Levant added that Poilievre’s “willingness to bend to the media mob, and turn on his own MPs” casts doubt on his commitment to “end cancel culture and stand up to the woke mob.”
“Poilievre has been on a winning street battling against CBC journalists, mocking them and defying their will. Today instead of laughing at journalists, he was obeying them and taking directions from them. Not a good look,” said Levant.
People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier called out Poilievre’s statement about Anderson as “disgusting.”
“This is what Pierre Poilievre has to say about @AndersonAfDMdEP. What a truly disgusting statement and baseless attack on a courageous woman who did more to defend freedom in Canada during covid than he did,” tweeted Poilievre on Friday.
This is what Pierre Poilievre has to say about @AndersonAfDMdEP.
What a truly disgusting statement and baseless attack on a courageous woman who did more to defend freedom in Canada during covid than he did. https://t.co/oaapwEwdIJ
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) February 24, 2023
Anderson says Poilievre is doing ‘Trudeau’s bidding’
On Friday, Anderson was asked to reply to Poilievre’s comments about her being “vile.” She said bluntly that the CPC has no business in trying to “define” who she is or what her views are.
“It really saddens me that he would actually use the same language that Mr. Trudeau or all the other government governments in Western democracies would use to slander me,” said Anderson last Friday in an interview with Rebel News.
“Like I said, we really had a great time with the members of his party. We all enjoyed ourselves, and if he resorts to that and misrepresents what I stand for in such a way, then I’m terribly sorry. Then I will have to tell Mr. Poilievre he has no business being the leader of the opposition, because he’s actually doing Mr. Trudeau’s bidding, and he should seriously reconsider.”
Some of the controversy surrounding Anderson is her being photographed with the “Diagolon” flag. Diagolon is a fictional country created by Canadian Armed Forces veteran Jeremy MacKenzie. MacKenzie and other members of his group took part in the Freedom Convoy last February, and legacy media outlets have consistently referred to them as a “far-right” group.
Anderson noted in her interview with Rebel News that the group are “comedians and literally made a mockery of this whole government agenda and the way they’re trying to slander even the Freedom Truckers as racists and all of that.”
“And yeah, [I posted a photo with them] … And I will not apologize for that because I had a good time doing it. I just like the idea of someone making a mockery of this whole madness that is going on with the governments controlling the people,” added the politician.